Outtawhack
As an Acupuncture Physician in the state of Florida, I am licensed to function within my scope of practice, as defined by Florida State Statute 457. FS 457, defines acupuncture as a form of primary care in the state of Florida. This allows me as a clinician to diagnose and treat within the scope of my practice. This is also the case for the majority of licensed health care professionals, like medical doctors, chiropractors and nurse practitioners. We diagnose. We treat. We look for feedback from patients and hopefully get positive results. Before we sit down together, there is established concept for the purpose of your visit via the collection of your medical history. For some, this history reads like a novel of epic length and proportion. In the world of personal medical history’s, many novels are born, reading like a seemingly never ending story of overlapping and concurrent complaints, issues, pains, aches, weaknesses, hypo-functioning and hyper-functioning, various pathology reports and labs with multiple providers and multiple medications. Rare is the human being who comes in for just one thing.
This could have been the case for a patient of mine we’ll call Janet. She was at the beginning of what could have turned into her own personal medical novel when we met. I told Janet that I would like to write about our experiences in the clinic together, and true to her open and warm nature, she said no problem, you can even use my name, which I’ve decided to not use as a layer of privacy for her. I thought that her story and arc of progress would be a good one to share, as many women, in particular, can relate to her story.
Janet is a high-functioning mother of two young children, now three at the time of this writing. She is a stenographer and manages multiple law offices, owned and operated by both she and her attorney husband. She is thoroughly dedicated to her family, businesses and community. She is smart, sophisticated, thoughtful, caring, and a nurturer in all of the contexts in which she functions.
Janet had a constellation of symptoms that included neck pain, digestive issues, and feelings of stress and overwhelm; a constellation that could have had her going to multiple physicians. She described her usual-self as energetic, positive, healthy, and able to function well in all areas of her life. With some recent life stressors and changes in her businesses she found herself feeling not so good. The interview was emotional at different points, as her frustrations turned into tears. Janet was holding so many things and people together. She was giving, giving, giving and found herself out of balance, experiencing multiple symptoms or warning signs from her body. In the process of our interview, I was struck by her competency, authenticity and self-awareness. Then, she said the thing that has me sitting and writing about her story in this moment. After describing her experiences, challenges and symptoms she said the thing, and a new medical diagnosis was born… at least in my mind. She said, I just don’t feel right… I’m outtawhack. I smiled and said, you’re in the right place.
One of the great gifts of the Chinese medical model is that it does not actually treat a patient’s symptoms. Yes, you read that correctly. The Chinese medical model treats patterns. One pattern can contain multiple symptoms and one symptom can be found in multiple patterns. So, we diagnose and treat patterns. In doing so, multiple symptoms can simultaneously improve. The system of interrelated and interwoven patterns that the Chinese medical model recognizes and treats is both simple, complex and broadly encompassing. It’s also way too much to cover in this short writing.
Overall Janet had a very healthy constitution, eating whole foods, staying active, seeking alternatives to medications and engaging in various mindfulness practices. Her medical history did not read like a novel at this point, and this is important to note. Had she gone down the path of chasing multiple symptoms with multiple medical providers, taking multiple medications that only treated her symptoms, she could have authored her own version of a medical novel. She chose differently.
Janet followed a course of about 10 treatments, including acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, herbal liniment massage, deep wave infrared therapy, herbal medicine and regenerative lifestyle prescriptions. All of her treatments were designed to address the root cause of her symptoms, the underlying patterns. Initially, the tension in her neck began to ease. She began to practice self massage techniques prescribed in the clinic and incorporated spine-strengthening postures with breathing practices during her work day. The herbal prescription helped ease the “pit” she felt in her stomach and soothed her digestive issues. The acupuncture treatments helped regulate and balance her nervous system, reducing feelings of overwhelm, stress, and anxiousness. She was able to find a feeling of centeredness and move through her life with more balance and harmony, less tension with her kids, spouse and colleagues. In the course of our conversations, she shared that her tension came out, and conducted into her family unproductive ways. She did not feel good about these moments (more tears), and we incorporated these occurrences as valuable teachers or warning signs that were there help her pay attention to her own need for care. We treated her underlying patterns and gave her self-care practices that reinforced the work we were doing in the clinic. We treated her as a whole person, with her specific needs.
Janet and her husband continue to operate their law practices, and have since adopted a third infant-aged child. She has moved from needing a healthcare treatment course to wellness maintenance. She’s currently not coming into the clinic for treatments, and gets regular refills on her herbal prescriptions, probiotics and the occasional homeopathic injection when she feels run down and on the verge of getting sick. She knows she can call anytime to resume a course of treatments in the clinic, should the need arise. Her story is not a story of deeply embedded, chronic pathology; although it could have been. Her story is a common story of a high-functioning woman in her early 40’s who chose not to take the path of multiple providers and taking multiple medications that only mask symptoms. Instead she chose wisely, she chose thoughtfully, she chose a form of medicine that addressed the root cause of her symptoms, the underlying patterns, and she no longer feels outtawhack.
